Irishman Francis Crozier was a major figure in the nineteenth-century polar explorations. Rejecting his privileged background, he joined the navy during the Napoleonic wars and captained the Terror in the first charting of the Antarctic. Crozier sought adventure, but it was an unrequited love that drove him back to the ice in 1845 on the fateful North West Passage expedition. The expedition never returned, becoming the biggest disaster in Polar exploration. When Captain Franklin died, Crozier took command and led the battle to survive in the Canadian Arctic, Despite the 40 ships sent to search for the crew only a few pathetic relics were found, including signs that the men had resorted to cannibalism.